So much for the superheroes.
ABC tried to leap over a tall building with Marvel’s “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” but someone at the network forgot to call “The Avengers.”
How else to explain how the show has lost a third of its viewers since the debut.
Marvel’s comic book writers have been telling stories about S.H.I.E.L.D. since industry pioneers Stan Lee and Jack Kirby cooked up the secretive organization in 1965’s Strange Tales #165. It’s a clandestine group of law enforcers who specialize in saving the world. Depending on venue, the acronym has varied from “Supreme Headquarters, International Espionage, Law-Enforcement Division” to “Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate.”
In films like “The Avengers” — and now the ABC show — the name stands for “Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.”
Blah, blah, blah.
By ditching the iconic superhumans like the Hulk, “S.H.I.E.L.D.” the TV show tries to offer a glimpse into the part of the Marvel universe that operates behind the scenes.
Galaxy-sized battles between iconic characters like Thor and his twisted brother Loki take a backseat to more mundane threats like hackers and nascent superhumans.
This wouldn’t work in a feature film and it’s likely not going to work on TV.
Marvel has gone down this road before. Especially in comic books — and even done a far better job.
Alias (no relation to the TV show) was a comic published from 2001-2004 by Marvel’s “adult” Max imprint that followed the tale of Jessica Jones, a former costumed superhero who hung up her cape to become a private investigator. While her life was deeply intertwined with solving mysteries related to her superhero past, most times she dealt with more mundane matters — all while epic battles between the forces of good and evil would unfold in the background, almost as an afterthought.
The celebrated writer of Alias, Brian Michael Bendis, also took on similar themes in Powers. That comic book series ran from 2000-2004 and explored a universe of superheroes — as seen through the eyes of two homicide detectives.
FX has been struggling to develop Powers as a TV show for years — without success.
There’s a good reason it’s been stuck in the mud. We expect our superhero tales told on an epic scale. These are big stories that demand to be told in big ways.
Or at least in a less subtle manner. The 1990s series, “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman,” may have been soft and hokey, but it was still a TV show about Superman.
For all of the strides television has made in recent years, competing with — or even being a companion to a big budget film — is a tough sell.
“S.H.I.E.L.D.,” at its best, is a bunch of characters who make a really neat backdrop for bigger storytelling — like superheroes turning back a massive alien invasion, helped along by a demi-god. You know, the stuff that happened in “The Avengers.”
The film’s director, Joss Whedon, knew that. His brother Jed and sister-in-law Maurissa Tancharoen, who oversee the ABC show, seem to have missed that notion.
But viewers haven’t.
“Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” only drew about 8.6 million sets of eyeballs for the second episode, compared to the much-hyped debut seen by 11.9 million.
For an expensive, high-profile series that aims to pick up where “The Avengers” left off, that’s anything but super.
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